


YA Effect

by Billywick, youngavengersbigbang



Category: Young Avengers
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 01:37:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Billywick/pseuds/Billywick, https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngavengersbigbang/pseuds/youngavengersbigbang





	YA Effect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kalisto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalisto/gifts).



The facility was bathed in a sickly green light by the time the landing party made it into the complex. The light of Tarrak VIII was fading away and nightfall wasn’t far off. They should have started the mission in the morning, but the scanning, planning and selection of the landing party took its time. Not to mention waiting for the 'hall pass' from the Alliance. 

Thomas hated having superiors. They always took their time with decisions, missing vital moments of action. The brass would never understand the necessity of a speedy insurgent or attack. The hours they squandered with a decision cost lives and blood that need not be shed.

Thomas Shepherd had lost enough soldiers to have his fill of bloodshed for two lifetimes. And yet, here he was, leading the landing party through the still complex. There was no energy signature except the very last reserves of an emergency power source somewhere deep within the research laboratories.

But why would Shield Security abandon their own complex? There were no signs of struggle or attack, no report of any outbreak or disease. And there were no bodies.

"Looks like they left in a rush."

Altman was to his right, inspecting trays containing mould-blackened substances that probably didn't remember what food they once were.

"I can see that. But there's no damage and no leftovers. They weren't making a stand to fight. Look at these stations,"

The muzzle of his assault rifle nudged aside a tablet and stack of printed readouts in salarian. Whatever experiments Shield paid these people for had obviously been important enough to be packed and taken. Probably more important than most of the staff here. 

He had a bad feeling about all of this. Billy frequently teased him for his 'gut instincts', but they had yet to be wrong. And they were dancing a samba on his nerves right now.

"We have to find the emergency power source. Something tells me we'll find an answer there."

"To what?" of course Lt. Bradley had an objection to make. The man just couldn't trust his decisions without second-guessing him at every turn. When they returned to the Genosha, he was going to have a serious talk that Lt. Bradley would not enjoy. But if Shepherd had to pull rank on him, he would. This mission was too important to have doubt among his crew.

Even if the mission right now involved carefully moving through a dusty building lit by the remnants of dextro-fluid tanks and dormant machinery. 

The inner core of the place was just ahead of them now. Shepherd took the lead, gingerly pressing against the safety doors that swung away, quite useless to their purpose of keeping the room sealed.

The room, it turned out, only opened into a larger hall and five corridors, all leading into darkness.

Five corridors. Five landing party members. 

"Alright. Split up to cover more ground. Bradley, take the first right. Bishop, left. Altman, second left. Kaplan, second right. I'll take center. Rendezvous back here in ten minutes. Only make contact if you run into anything...interesting."

"Such as rabid shi-ar troops, Shield thugs or maybe a Zerg rush?" 

"Focus Kaplan. This isn't your simulator. This is real and I need you sharp. Understood?"

"Yes sir. Sorry."

"Go."

He wasn't going to admit any kind of relief when he was finally devoid of teammates, but Thomas did relish the momentary chance to investigate by himself. The green light was still terribly sparse and doing a horrible job at actually illuminating anything. But Thomas' rifle shed enough light on his path to be useful. 

He tried not to think about whatever it was that made the people living here flee in just a night. Over three hundred scientists had been employed here. And whatever they worked on was important enough to choose this planet, a small, icy rock that no one would look at twice or even think about settling on. Thomas had seen this before. Little planets like this were exactly the kind of place you wanted to build your secret facility on so no one would ever think of snooping around.

And then, things went wrong and it fell to people like Commander Shepherd and his crew of odd individuals to do the dirty work and inspect whatever disaster occurred here.

Thomas' trailing thoughts were cut short when his omni-tool gave a little whine. He'd reached the source of the emergency signal, but he couldn't see anything in the dusty, dark hall. It was a cavernous sort of room, the walls once white and sterile. The ceiling must have broken through at some point, because thin shafts of light illuminated parts of the floor.

But Thomas had no time or eye for the odd beauty of ruination, because something else commanded his attention.

A massive tank stood erect in the room, almost a proud monument to the presence of people once upon a time. Clearly, it was the source of the last of the energy in this whole complex. It was glowing. And it wasn't empty. Thomas stood before the tiny console and stared.

There, floating upright in the tank was a man. At least, he looked like one. Smooth white skin covered flawless muscle, white hair flowed in the liquid of the tank. The man, larger than average and certainly broader than the commander, bore a facemask and little clothing. He might as well look as if he was sleeping.

Thomas gawked. This...this wasn't a preservation tank. No, this couldn't be a last ditch effort for survival. The suspicion rose in his throat like bile. This man...he was an experiment. And by the looks of him, probably one to amplify some kind of soldier abilities. 

There was something potentially dangerous about the way this man, this creature, had been left here. If he was not the prize project these scientists had been working on, why was his pod the last one still powered up?

Thomas had two choices here. Destroy the power source and put whatever this individual (Good Lord, he might even be Kree, if the density readings now displayed around the tank were anything to go by) out of his misery, or, free him. Wake him. Ask him what happened here.

But could he take such a chance? 

"Landing Party. Assemble on my coordinates. I need something potentially deadly guarded and transported back to the ship."

"Sir, that's what you said when we found Altman too."

Of course Eli would have something to complain about. Thomas looked up at the floating man and the readings now confirming the subject to be of augmented Kree DNA. He even found a name in the Kree language. 

"How right you are. It's time for you to meet the newest member of my crew. His name is Noh-Varr."


End file.
